Tanabata Wish
by jackkel dragon
Summary: An AU story where the events of BC/BR never occurred. Mayu transfers back to Kisaragi Academy for her final year of high school and becomes the drama club president. To everyone's surprise, Seiko joins the drama club as soon as the year begins. Now Mayu has to help Seiko learn to act while also preparing for the upcoming performance at the school-held Tanabata Festival.
1. Prologue

"What made you decide to join the Drama Club, Shinohara?"

I examined Shinohara's expression, trying to guess at her intentions. Her club application form was in my hands, waiting for the signature of an existing club member. Namely, mine.

"Well, now that Naomi and Mochida are dating I've been trying to give them a bit more space." Shinohara twirled a finger where her hair had been styled into curls last year. She lowered her hand when she remembered that her hair was a lot shorter now. "And Kishinuma is too busy with his job to hang out much, so now I've got a lot of free time on my hands. Thought I'd use that time to join a club. It's my last year here at Kisaragi, after all!"

Shinohara had changed since last year. I'm not sure what exactly happened during the winter term, but suddenly Nakashima and Mochida started dating and Shinohara cut her hair short. Now with our third and final year at Kisaragi Academy starting, it seemed like Shinohara was trying to branch out.

Far be it from me to stop her! I smiled and signed the application form: Mayu Suzumoto, Club President 2009.

"Well then, welcome to the Drama Club, Shinohara!"


	2. Chapter 1

"Alright, everyone! I just got some news from the Student Council, so listen up, okay?"

I tried my hardest to sound authoritative. I'm not sure if it worked, but everyone in the club room did turn to face me. I cleared my throat and checked the notes the Student Council Secretary had given me.

"The Drama Club is being asked to perform a play for the Tanabata festival this year! We've got a budget for the set and costumes and so on already, so let's start planning!"

I set down the notes on a table and some of the other club members took a look at it. Kokowa, a first year, looked up at me with a curious face. "Do we get to pick what play we perform?"

I nodded at her. "We've been encouraged to select a play based on the theme of 'star-crossed lovers,' but the final selection has been left up to the club."

Harada, a second year from class 2-9 and one of Mr. Yamazaki and Ms. Yui's students, beamed at me. "Maybe we could do Romeo and Juliet!"

Kokowa glared at him. "Do we have to put on a play about some kids that commit suicide just because you're in love with your English teachers?"

Seeing a potential conflict, Shig stepped forward and raised a hand to calm them down. "Don't fight. We'll write it down as a possibility and put it to a vote once we have all the suggestions."

Kokowa and Harada nodded and calmed down. Shig adjusted his glasses and nodded at me. "I'll start a list of the suggestions." He picked up a pen and some paper and started writing down the ideas everyone had.

Once everyone had submitted their ideas for what to perform for the festival, Shig handed me the list. I crossed out a few absurd suggestions that I hoped were jokes and wrote each of the remaining ideas on the board at the front of the room. With that finished, I turned to face the club.

"These are the plays everyone suggested… minus a few stange ones. Let's go down the list and see where everyone stands."

A hand shot up. I noticed it was Harada. I nodded for him to speak, wondering what was wrong.

"What is that last one? 'Tanabata Wish?'"

I looked at the list of suggestions again. Most of the ones I didn't reject outright I had heard of or seen before, but I realized I didn't know what "Tanabata Wish" was.

"Who suggested it? Would you like to fill us in on what the play is about?"

There was a silence throughout the room for about a minute. Then Shinohara nudged someone forward a bit. I recognized her as the second-year Ishida. She didn't like to perform due to shyness, but she'd help with just about everything else in preparing for a production.

"I… I suggested it…"

I smiled at Ishida to try to put her at ease. "Could you tell us what it's about?"

Ishida could clearly feel the weight of all the eyes in the room focused on her. She seemed barely able to prevent herself from shivering. "I-it's about a boy and a girl who live in d-different countries, so they c-can only meet once a year…"

"I've never heard of it." Harada said without thinking. I held in a sigh.

"Th-that's because… I w-wrote it…"

Shinohara patted Ishida on the shoulder. "Be proud! You put all that hard work into it, so you might as well share it!"

I started to suspect that Shinohara put Ishida up to this, but I suppose if Ishida was alright with the possibility of her play being performed I'd let it slide. "Alright, so our choices are on the board. I'll go down the list in order, and everyone who wants to do a play should raise their hands when I get to it."

I went down the list as I had explained, starting with Romeo and Juliet. To no surprise, Harada voted for his suggestion. No one else did, though. Ouch.

In the end, each suggestion only got one or two votes except for "Tanabata Wish," which got almost half of the club's votes. I guess everyone was curious what Ishida came up with.

"And it looks like we're going to be performing 'Tanabata Wish!'" I circled its entry on the board. "Ishida, would you mind bringing me a copy of the script to our next meeting? I'd like to get an idea of what we need to do to prepare."

Ishida nodded nervously. "Y-yeah! I'll bring it tomorrow!"

I nodded at everyone else. "We don't have any other business today, and we can't move forward until I get the script, so you can go home early today. Have a good afternoon, everyone!"

Everyone started to pack up their things and head out. I stuck around with Shig to clean up the club room a bit and erase the board.

While I was putting away some notes I heard Shig sigh deeply and turned to see what was wrong. He held a second schoolbag in his hand, clearly one that had been left behind by someone in a hurry to leave.

"Whose is that?"

Shig turned to look at me and adjusted his glasses. "It appears to belong to Shinohara. I can't imagine who else would have a photo of Shinohara and Nakashima tucked into a side pocket."

"Maybe if you hurry you can get it to her before she leaves?"

Frowning, Shig sighed again. "Mayu, I'm a member of the Drama Club, not the Track Club. Shinohara could easily be halfway home before I get to the shoelockers."

"Are you saying that she's super fast or that you move as slow as a turtle?"

Shig made a face at that comment and I giggled. "Come on, Shig. A little exercise won't hurt you."

"Fine… I'll go return this to Shinohara." Shig looked like he was about to huff in exasperation as he marched out of the room. I could barely hold back another giggle.

I finished cleaning up the club room and locked it up behind me. I texted my mom about what happened today, telling her about the plans for the festival play. I reassured her that my apartment was in a safe neighborhood and that everything was going fine. With that taken care of, I headed home, pleased with how the day turned out.


	3. Chapter 2

I sighed as I looked at the results of the poll to see which characters everyone wanted to be. The leading male role, Hiko, only had one name listed: Shig's. I suspected that once he put his name on the poll everyone else was too intimidated to compete with him. It made the casting easier, but it seems like a hollow victory for the lead role to be picked by default…

What was even more worrying to me was that no one signed up to audition for the female lead, Ori.

I stood up in front of the rest of the club, the poll in one hand and the script in the other. "Can I have your attention for a moment? I'm going over the audition list, and we have a pretty big role with no one offering to perform it."

Harada crossed his arms and frowned. "Which role?"

I tucked the script under my arm so I could hold up the poll and point out the empty space. "Ori, our leading woman."

"That… is a very glaring gap." Harada conceded, backing off.

"Is there really no interest in the role?" I looked around at the girls in the club. Some of them looked sheepish now that they were under scrutiny.

Shig adjusted his glasses and looked around. "Well? Is there any interest in the role or not?"

There was an uncomfortable silence for a minute while a number of girls looked at each other uneasily. I didn't like this silence. There was clarly something wrong, or there wouldn't be so much hesitation.

I heard the shuffling of papers as someone went through their copy of the script. After a moment a chuckle broke out from Shihohara.

"Are you all too shy to kiss Morishige on stage?"

I sighed at Shinohara's tactless question and its implications. Was the lack of interest in the lead roles entirely because everyone was afraid of Shig? What did he do to deserve this?

"Shinohara, don't provoke anyone. That won't settle anything." Shig said calmly, not seeming fazed by Shinohara's outburst.

I cleared my throat and looked around the room. "We need to have someone play Ori or we won't have a play. Will anyone volunteer to audition?"

Everyone looked around at each other until Shinohara raised her hand excitedly as if she were trying to be the first to answer a question in class. "Oooo ooo, if no one else wants it, pick me! I always wanted to be a star!"

While her enthusiasm was admirable, I felt a bit of dread at Shinohara taking such an important role. She had only been acting for a few weeks now, and she still had a lot to learn before she could perform well. I decided not to mention this to anyone and instead smiled and put her name down on the audition poll.

"Alright, we have at least one person offering to play each role now. Take some time to go over your scripts again and we'll get started on the first few auditions in twenty minutes."

Shinohara was literally bouncing in place with excitement. Shig walked over to me and leaned in close before whispering into my ear.

"Are you sure she's the best fit for the role?"

I shrugged. "I don't want to force anyone to play the part. Maybe if we can get her to focus she'll be able to pull it off."

Shig sighed and nodded. "If she is capable of concentrating that long."

I let Shig get back to reading his script and sat in a desk to skim the script again before the auditions. Ishida had written a lot of useful notes in the margins, so I started going over those as well.

Part of me felt annoyed. There shouldn't have been so much of a problem with Shig being in a lead role. Sure it's a love story with a kiss scene, but it's not like a stage kiss has to be a real kiss. We've even been practicing how to perform mock fighting; it wouldn't be too hard to extend that to other things.

Of course, I didn't plan to express my disappointment in the club. It's annoying that they all shunned Shig like that, but I don't want to get into an argument with anyone. Even now that I live on my own, I can still remember the fights my parents would get into. That's not something I want to go through here, with my friends.

"Suzumoto? Are we starting the auditions?"

I looked up to see Kokowa and a few others waiting expectantly. I turned to see that Ishida seemed ready to observe the auditions and I nodded. "Yeah. We'll get started in a moment."

The auditions were mostly a formality for a number of roles, since Ishida and I had been watching everyone practice for a few days now and had an idea who would be best suited for each role. Still, there were a few surprises. Not that I could remember them after Shinohara's attempt at a performance.

I don't really like to think poorly of a friend, but while I could tell Shinohara was trying she wasn't really performing the role as Ishida intended it. I tried to think of some constructive criticism during her audition, but I drew blanks. She switched from her own personality to overacting every other line and never quite got the intonation right.

After a bit, Ishida held up a hand for Shinohara to stop. I felt a lump in my throat. What were we going to do?…

"C-could you do that line a-again? This time, emphasize the first part of the sentence i-instead. And don't r-raise your arms like that during the line…"

Shinohara cleared her throat and did as she was instructed. It wasn't much better, but it did sound a lot closer to how Ishida had described the scene to me.

"What do you think, Ishida?" I whispered after Shinohara was finished with her audition.

Ishida nodded. "S-she can do it. She j-just needs to practice it."

"Are you sure?"

"Y-yes."

I took a deep breath and nodded at Shinohara. "Sounds like a yes, Shinohara. You're going to be Ori."

Shinohara pumped her fist in the air and smiled from ear to ear. I looked at Ishida to see that she had written a note next to Shinohara's name on the audition sheet: "add more notes to shinohara's script."

That sounded like a good plan…


	4. Chapter 3

I pulled out my phone and checked the time. It was almost time to head home for the day, and she still hadn't shown up yet.

I sighed and pocketed my phone. Shinohara was in class today, but she was called home to take care of her siblings right after class. She promised to be back in time to practice, but she hadn't shown up yet.

Harada shuffled over to me with a tired look in his eyes. I guess it was time to call it a day.

"That's it for today, everyone." I stood up and looked around at everyone. "We'll end a few minutes early. Remember that we start doing rehearsals two weeks from now, so try to keep your schedules free after next weekend. See you tomorrow, everyone."

Everyone started packing up to leave. Kokowa and Ishida gave me some information on the materials we'd need to buy for the costumes before they headed out. I sat at the front of the room as the rest of the club shuffled out. Eventually, the only people left were me and Shig.

Shig adjusted his glasses as he approached me, a frown on his face. "It's hard to practice without the leading lady. Did you get a call from Shinohara explaining her absence?"

I shrugged. "She said she had to take care of her family, but she made it sound like she'd be able to make the meeting. I guess things were too busy for her at home."

"Let's hope she doesn't force a recast. We'll need her focused during rehearsal to keep her from making a fool of herself."

I was thinking of a way to respond to that when the clubroom door slid open. I turned to see a panting Shinohara leaning on the door.

"Sorry… I'm… late…"

Shinohara sounded like she had just run all the way from her house to make it here. I looked up at the clubroom clock to see that she technically made it in time for the last minute of the club meeting.

Shig frowned at her, crossing his arms. "Everyone else has already left."

"S-sorry… my dad… said he'd be back… early… but… he was late… couldn't leave the others… alone…"

I rubbed my forehead and walked over to Shinohara, laying a hand on her shoulder. "Catch your breath, Shinohara. You're going to pass out if you push yourself too hard."

She nodded and slid down the door until she was seated on the floor. She rummaged through her bag and pulled out her script. "Hey, is it alright if I use the clubroom as long as I'm here?…"

Part of me was still annoyed that Shinohara didn't call to say she was going to take longer than expected. But when I thought of how much effort Shinohara made to get here to practice and how much work she needed to play her role properly, I decided it was only fair I stuck around to help her out.

"Alright. I can stick around for a bit longer as long as you keep things productive." I offered Shinohara a hand and helped her stand before looking to Shig. "You can go ahead without me, Shig."

Shig frowned in thought for a moment before he shrugged off his bag onto a desk. "I'll remain as well. I was hoping to get some practice in with Shinohara before the rehearsals started."

I nodded and smiled. "Alright! Let's get started, then!"

I got seated in a desk at the back of the room while Shinohara and Shig looked over their scripts. I noticed that Shinohara kept her script in hand when they started practicing lines, while Shig was confident enough to put his script aside.

The two of them went over most of their lines, with Shig stopping Shinohara every few lines to give her advice. She still wasn't a very good actor, but she seemed to trying really hard to improve. She still spoke the lines in the wrong tone or while exaggerating her body movements, but she didn't forget to act out the lines as Ori rather than as herself anymore.

After a few hours passed I waited for Shinohara to get a line she was working on right before standing and clapping for her.

"You're getting there, Shinohara! You're almost ready for the rehearsals now."

Shinohara raised her free hand to play with her non-existant hair curls and rubbed the back of her neck when she found nothing there. "I still need a lot more work to get this right…"

I patted her on the shoulder and smiled. "We'll get you there, Shinohara. For now, we should head home. It's late."

Shinohara nodded slowly and went to put her script away. Shig walked over to me and sighed. "She's not improving quickly enough."

I looked at Shinohara to make sure she didn't hear Shig's comment before responding. "What do you suggest we do?"

Shig adjusted his glasses. "Ordinarily I'd suggest a recast, but no one else wanted this role. So we'll have to find a way to motivate her to work harder."

"I think she's already working pretty hard… it's just that she doesn't always have time to come to the meetings."

Shig frowned and was about to respond when Shinohara cleared her throat and waved at us. "See you two later…"

I waved back and smiled at Shinohara, wondering what to do. Shig stared at Shinohara for a moment before walking over to her, pulling out his phone.

"If you can't make it to meetings, let me know and I'll come over to practice with you. That way you can watch over your siblings while still getting some practice in."

Shinohara's eyes widened and she fumbled for her phone. "R-really? Thanks! That'll be a huge help!"

While they exchanged numbers, Shinohara traded the serious look she had arrived with for a wide smile. It made me happy to see her smile… she's been really stressed out with all the training she's been going through lately. For the moment, she looked like the old Shinohara.

After Shinohara left, Shig and I cleaned up the clubroom and locked it up for the night. I nudged Shig in the side as we walked out of the school. "Pretty smooth, Shig. You have her phone number now."

Shig sighed and touched his forehead. "Mayu, this is the only way we're going to be ready for the festival at this rate."

"Suuuuure, Shig." I stuck my tongue out at him. I had hoped my teasing would at least get a blush, but I guess he didn't have time to think of the potential implications of inviting himself to Shinohara's house.

"You're reading too much into this, Mayu."

"Maybe." I decided to drop the subject. Shig was apparently in no-fun mode. "Anyway, be sure to let me know if your measurements changed so I can make your costume properly."

"I'll update you when I have those taken again." Shig waved as we reached the school gates. "See you tomorrow, Mayu."

"Bye, Shig!" I waved back.

As I walked home, I smiled when I remembered the relieved look on Shinohara's face as Shig offered to help her practice at home. With Shig helping her, we might just be able to be ready before the festival.


	5. Chapter 4

Everyone was whispering to each other anxiously, doing last-minute memorizations before the rehearsal. Ishida and I checked with each group to make sure they'd be ready, since we were going to be cutting it close with the amount of time we expected the rehearsal run to take. The rehearsal was going to be a glorified dramatic reading without costumes for today, but everyone seemed to be as nervous as they'd be before a live performance.

The last group I checked in with consisted of Shig and Shinohara. Shig seemed to be calm, waiting patiently for the others to be ready. Shihohara was a lot less prepared from the looks of things: sweat was forming on her forehead and she bit her lip as she muttered lines under her breath.

"Are you going to be able to do the rehearsal, Shinohara?"

Shinohara looked up at me and forced a smile. "I'll be fine~ I just need another minute or two…"

"You do know that we can't use our scripts for reference during the rehearsal," Shig intoned as he turned to face Shinohara. "Correct?"

Shinohara nodded frantically, shutting the script she was reading from. "Yeah! I don't need this anymore! I know Ori's lines by heart!"

I tried to think of something to say to that. Shig sighed and adjusted his glasses. Ishida walked over from the previous group and smiled at Shinohara.

"D-don't worry about getting it p-perfect this time, Shinohara. Just try to g-get as far as you can without help, and w-we'll work out the details before the next rehearsal."

Shinohara nodded, wiping the sweat from her forehead. "Okay. Are we starting?"

I nodded and walked up to the front of the clubroom. "Attention, everyone!" I called out to the others, making sure they were looking my way before continuing. "We're starting the rehearsal. For those of you that are new to this, don't worry about getting everything exactly right. Just keep the show going and we'll sort out the mistakes for next time."

Everyone nodded and I went back to a seat I had prepared. Ishida and I were going to observe the rehearsal and make notes on what needed to be improved on, so I made sure my pen worked and opened my notebook.

"Let's get started! Act one, scene one."

—-

The rehearsal went about as well as expected for our first try. Most of the bit parts were able to remember all their lines, but there was still a number of flubbed lines and missed cues that needed to be accounted for. I tried not to think too hard about how Shinohara's mistakes accounted for almost a third of the notes I took.

Ishida was quickly swarmed by a group of kids that were sure they messed up somewhere, and while I wanted to help her out, she waved me away before I could intervene. I hoped that she really was able to handle all of them herself and started seeking out the people who needed the most work on their parts.

We finished with just a few minutes to spare before the club meeting ended, so a number of people started heading home. Kokowa handed me a list of measurements that she collected from the others for the costumes and waved before heading out. I sat at a desk and started going over the measurements, calculating how much material we'd need to make the costumes.

Harada walked up to me with his bag slung over his shoulder, not-so-stealthily trying to take a peek at the measurements sheet. I pulled the sheet closer and narrowed my eyes at him.

"What are you doing, Harada?"

"I just thought I'd take a peek at the measurements, see what sort of gi— err, people we've got in the club."

I sighed and shook my head. "That's not information you need to know, Harada. How about you focus on getting your lines right instead of looking for girls' measurements?"

"That's not what I said, though…"

"That's what you wanted to say."

Harada's cheeks turned pink and he spun around so his back was to me. "Yeeeaaaah… I'll just be going now…"

I chuckled as Harada tried not to be too conspicuous as he left the clubroom. Almost everyone had left by this point. I went over a few things with Ishida before packing up my own bag to get ready to go.

As I waited for the last few people to trickle out of the room before I locked it, Shinohara bounded up to me and clasped her hands together as if begging.

"Suzumoto, is it alright if you come over to my place tonight? Morishige and I are going to go over my lines, but I need someone to watch the kids so I can focus…"

The request was sudden, but as soon as I processed the question I nodded and smiled. "Sure! I'm free tonight."

"Thanks, Suzumoto! You're the greatest!"

Shinohara ran back into the room to grab her bag. Shig walked over to me and nodded in Shinohara's direction. "I take it she asked you already?"

"Yeah. We're all heading over to her place now, right?"

Shig nodded. We waited for Shinohara to join us in the hallway before I locked the door behind us and we headed out.

The trip over to Shinohara's was uneventful, as she spent most of her time looking over her script every few steps and I didn't want to distract her. But when we reached Shinohara's house and she opened the front door we were hit by a burst of activity.

"Shig's here, Shig's here!"

"Yay! Shig's here!"

Three young voices rang out upon seeing Shig, using the nickname I thought only I used. Shinohara's siblings ran up to us and smiled up at Shig.

"I am indeed here…" Shig said nonchalently. Despite the bored tone he used, I thought I could see a bit of a smile on his face.

Shinohara hugged each of her siblings and then turned to me. "Suzumoto, these are my siblings. This one is Yuu, and this cutie is Aya, and the little one is Kei."

"I'm just as big as Aya!" Kei muttered, pouting. Shinohara ruffled his hair and chuckled, and I couldn't help but chuckle with her.

"Anyway, you three should play with Suzumoto for a bit. Shig and I need to practice for the play." Shinohara looked to me. "You ready for them, Suzumoto?"

I smiled at the kids and nodded. "Yeah, go ahead." I pulled out the notebook I had written in during the rehearsal and handed it to Shig. "Oh, and use this if you need to know what to work on."

Shig nodded at me and opened the notebook. "Thanks, Mayu. This will help us focus on the problem lines."

Shinohara and Shig went into another room to work on the play, and the kids led me to a room with a bunch of toys. Yuu seemed to have a fair idea of how to keep his younger siblings in line, though I could see why Shinohara asked me to help out when the others didn't always listen to him about what you're supposed to do with certain toys.

Kei was amusing himself with some action figures while Aya was doodling something when Yuu sat next to me and looked up at me. "Hey, Suzumoto?"

"Yeah?"

"Are Shig and big sis dating?"

I felt like I had been punched in the chest with the surpise from that innocent question. "Wh-what?"

"Shig bro has been coming over a lot lately, and big sis keeps talking about him when he's not here. And Naomi sis has a boyfriend, so I thought maybe big sis was dating Shig…"

I strained my head to think of whether Shinohara ever told me how old Yuu was. I think Nakashima said he was about nine last year, so that would make him around ten now? Either way, it felt strange trying to explain dating to someone as young as Yuu…

"Uh… I don't know, really…" I ran a hand through my hair while I tried to think of how to explain. "Maybe she already told you this, but your sister is playing Shig's girlfriend in the festival play, so maybe you're just hearing her practice her part."

Yuu shook his head. "No, big sis talks about Shig a lot, even when she isn't practicing."

I scratched my head. I'd known Shig for a while now, and I thought I'd be able to tell if he had a girlfriend or not.

Yuu stood up and walked over to Aya, who had broken a pencil. "Um, if you don't know about that, could you go ask big sis when she's going to make dinner?"

I stood up and nodded at Yuu. "Okay. I'll be right back."

Yuu's question stuck with me, though I wasn't sure why. I tried to imagine Shig and Shinohara together as I headed over to where they were practicing.

I was about to knock on the doorframe to get their attention when I saw Shig holding Shinohara tight, her script on the ground and her face covered in tears. I instinctively hid behind the doorframe, feeling my heartbeat race. As I stood there, I heard a few whispered words from the next room.

"—tter off just recasting… I'm just going to make you all look bad…"

"Don't be ridiculous. You've put in too much effort to just give up over a few mistakes."

I gulped as I eavsedropped on the conversation, listening to Shig reassure Shinohara that she'd be able to pull off her part without embarassing herself or making the drama club look bad.

After the initial shock of seeing them so close, a part of me got really interested in peeking in on them. I now understood why Yuu thought they were dating: they must have gotten real close in these past few weeks.

My curiousity eventually got the better of me, and I peeked in after their voices went quiet. I was rewarded with the sight of Shig and Shinohara kissing each other on the lips.

I suddenly realized just how bad it would be to get caught staring like this and ducked back behind the doorframe. Remembering what I came for, I tiptoed back the way I came and pretended to bump into a doorframe on my way back, hopefully alerting Shig and Shinohara that I was on my way.

"Hey, Shinohara?" I asked innocently, peeking into the room to see that Shinohara was wiping her tears and Shig was picking up the fallen script. "Yuu wants to know when dinner will be."

Shinohara's eyes went wide. "I almost forgot! Th-thanks, Suzumoto! I'll get started on that right now!"

Shinohara ran out of the room to the kitchen. I walked in and picked up my notebook from a desk before looking over at Shig. "How are things coming along?"

Shig studied my face for a moment. I wondered why he was taking so long to respond. Then he adjusted his glasses and frowned.

"You saw, didn't you?"


	6. Chapter 5

"Why does everyone else get to ditch out of this?"

I sighed as I listened to Harada complain and tried not to lose focus on the costumes I was working on.

"Everyone else got here and finished their jobs on time."

Harada huffed and went back to painting part of the set. He hadn't remembered that we were meeting in the auditorium to finalize the set today, so he had missed the first half of the club meeting.

I continued sewing the costume I was working on, but my mind wandered. Shig and Shinohara were practicing at her house again today, and part of me wondered what they were up to right now. They technically haven't told me outright, but I could tell that they were dating.

I tried to focus on the positive things about that, such as Shinohara's rising confidence and acting skill, but something kept nagging at me. Part of the reason I begged my parents to let me get an apartment in Tenjin was so I'd be able to finish high school with Shig. Now that he had a girlfriend, he wouldn't have as much time to spend with me anymore.

When Harada pointed out that he had finished his part of preparing the set, I realized that I was working more slowly because of my daydreaming. I still had two more costumes to finish before I was done. I decided to just finish them up the meeting before the next rehersal and packed everything away.

—-

Ishida and I clapped at the end of the rehearsal, smiling at everyone. It wasn't just an empty gesture, either: even after making the transition to a dress rehearsal, everyone was nearly ready for the production.

"G-Good job e-everyone."

"We're almost there!" I added. "We have two weeks before Tanabata, so make sure to make it to the last two rehearsals!"

Everyone started getting changed back into their normal clothes, looking relieved. I stood up from my seat and went to go check on Shig.

"Hey, Shig!"

I tapped Shig on the shoulder and he hesitantly turned around, wearing only his shorts and an undershirt.

"Something wrong, Mayu?"

"No, no. I just wanted to tell you that you really nailed it this time. Ishida said that she can't imagine anyone else fitting the role as you do."

Shig nodded. "I suppose that's a good thing, then. It'd be unforunate for me to have been cast in the wrong role simply because the part was unpopular."

I nodded in agreement to that sentiment when I noticed Shinohara approaching. I turned to her and smiled.

"You've almost got it, Shinohara! There's only a few things you need to fix before you're ready for the perfomance!"

Shinohara smiled. "I told you I always wanted to be a star, right~?"

I realized that she was only wearing a sweaty tank-top and some shorts that she had worn under her costume and I started to feel awkward. Of the three people left in the changing room, I was the one with the most clothing on.

Shinohara turned to Shig and her smile became even wider. "Though, to be honest, I'd never have gotten this far if not for Sakutaro."

I felt a strange tightening in my chest. I looked at Shig, but he seemed unfazed at being called by his given name. I remember him telling me that he didn't like others using that name for him, since most people considered it old-fashioned and judged him for it. So why was it okay when Shinohara used that name?

Shig adjusted his glasses. "All I've done is oversee your attempts and keep you focused." He picked up Shinohara's uniform skirt from a pile on the floor and tossed it to her.

After catching the skirt, Shinohara's eyes narrowed slightly and she began speaking in a softer tone. "Still… thanks, Sakutaro. I'm glad you've been around to help me."

I started to get the feeling that I was intruding on a private moment and started to creep toward the dressing room's exit. "Well, see you two next meeting! Bye!"

I hurried out of the dressing room, trying not to think too hard about what I saw in there. I started packing up my things, but I noticed that a few club members were still standing around, gossiping.

"—totally dating. That kiss during the rehearsal was a real kiss."

"No way! They don't suit each other at all. It's called acting!"

"Would you ever kiss someone like that and call it 'acting'?"

I wanted to ignore them, but I decided it would be better if I tried to break it up before it turned into an argument. I walked over to the students and waved at them.

"Hey, what's the matter?"

The students looked at each other and shrugged. One of them muttered that nothing was wrong.

I nodded and smiled at them. "Alright, then see you next meeting! Be sure to make it, we only have two rehearsals left!"

The students started to disperse after that, and I sighed with relief as I walked out of the auditorium. If only it were that easy to stop my parents when they started arguing…

On the way home, I recalled how Shinohara had called Shig by his given name, and how her siblings used my nickname for him. For a moment, I felt lonely.


	7. Chapter 6

It was the day before Tanabata, and everyone in our school was in a hurry to finish the festival preparations. I nearly bumped into Mochida a few times as he carried boxes of materials around the school for his class, and I started to wonder what he was carrying.

Ishida, Kokowa, and I were doing a last-minute check of all of the props and set pieces for the play. Kokowa would pull out a box of props and hold them up one by one for Ishida to mark on her checklist, and I went around marking off each set as I found it.

After we were finished, we all headed back to our classes to help with the school decorations. A lot of people seemed really bored with the preparations, but it was exciting to me and the time passed quickly.

After my class had finished with our preparations, I headed over to Shig's class to check on him. He and Kishinuma were putting up decorations in the hallway while Shinozaki called out orders to her classmates. I waited for Shig to finish up with the banner he was hanging before I tapped his shoulder to get his attention.

"How are things going, Shig?"

Shig sighed and adjusted his glasses. "We're behind because Kishinuma forgot to buy the banners we needed, so we're just now finishing up some of the banners for hanging."

"What is your class doing for the festival, again?"

Shig pointed up at the banner, which read "Miss Tanabata Contest".

"It's too late to enter" said a voice behind me. I turned my head a bit to see that it was Shinozaki.

Shig nodded. "The contestants were picked last week."

"Is there anyone we know in the contest?"

I heard muttering from next to me as Shinozaki walked away, and Shig nodded. "Shinozaki was… volunteered."

A part of me felt sorry for Shinozaki for being drafted into it, but I could think of at least one person that would be happy she was in the contest. Though the person in question seemed to be focused on making up for his earlier mistakes…

"Hey, Morishige! Stop chattin' and help me out over here!"

Shig sighed and turned back to Kishinuma. "I hear you. You don't need to raise your voice."

I waved at Shig and Kishinuma. "See you tomorrow! I hope it doesn't take too long to finish up!"

I walked away from them and considered visiting someone else before I headed home for the day. I was about to go check on Ishida's class when I noticed someone going into a stairwell alone.

Curious, I followed the person to see that it was Shinohara, who went up the stairs to the roof. I looked around to see that no one else had noticed, and decided to follow her to the roof.

Stepping quietly so that she wouldn't hear me, I crept up to the roof and peeked out of the doorway. I saw Shinohara standing in the middle of the roof with her school bag, which she dropped to the ground. She knelt down and pulled something out of the bag before standing up again.

After a few moments examining the object, she put it down and began to recite lines from Tanabata Wish. Even from a distance, I could recognize the words.

I let the roof door close behind me, making sure it didn't make too much noise. I stood a few meters away from Shinohara, listening to her practice her lines.

I managed to keep myself from doing anything to alert Shinohara to my presence for a few scenes' worth of lines, but after a particularly well-done scene I couldn't resist applauding for Shinohara.

Shinohara gave a start and spun around, her eyes wide. "Su-Suzumoto! When did you get here?!"

"I… saw you come up here, and I was curious." I hid my hands behind my back in embarassment. "You've come a long way, Shinohara. I think you're ready for tomorrow."

Shinohara composed herself and flashed her familiar smile. "You bet! No one knows Ori like I know Ori!"

The smile faded after a moment, and Shinohara looked away.

"Still… I'm nervous. Not about tomorrow… not anymore. But…"

I tilted my head when Shinohara didn't continue. "What are you nervous about, then?"

Shinohara frowned, but quickly turned around so that I couldn't see her face. "I'm nervous… about what happens after tomorrow."

"Why is that?"

There was a moment of silence. Then Shinohara rubbed the back of her neck. I noticed that she didn't reach for her long-gone hair curls.

"After tomorrow… There's no more reason for Sakutaro to be so nice to me. He won't need to make sure I work hard so that I don't make a fool out of him. After tomorrow…" Shinohara lowered her hand and clenched it. "After the play… he can dump me."

I felt a pang of empathy when I heard those words. I knew what it was like to worry that a friend wouldn't care about me anymore…

A sudden thought hit me that, after tomorrow, Shig could go back to spending more time with me instead of Shinohara. I instantly felt guilty for noticing that opportunity.

"Shinohara…" I approached her and tentatively put a hand on her shoulder.

"I don't want him to leave me." Shinohara shook under my touch, and I wondered if she was crying. "But I don't see why he'd stay with me after tomorrow."

I tried to think of something to make Shinohara feel better, but my mind came up with blanks.

Deciding to just go with my gut and hope for the best, I started to try to reassure her. "You like him, right?"

"Yes. Definitely."

"And you told him, right?"

"Yeah."

I nodded. "What has he said?"

"He said… that he wants to help me improve. He never… really told me if he liked me."

I took a deep breath. I wanted to reassure Shinohara that she didn't need to worry, but I didn't know how Shig really felt about her. If I was wrong, I might end up hurting Shinohara…

"I have an idea." I patted Shinohara's shoulder. "After the play tomorrow, ask him how he feels. It's tough, but no matter what he says you'll have your answer."

Shinohara nodded slowly. "O-okay. I'll do it."

I patted Shinohara's shoulder again, this time with more force. "That's not the Shinohara I remember. What was that?"

Shinohara turned to me with a red face, though her tears were already wiped away. She chuckled and smiled at me, giving me a thumbs-up. "I'll do it! Only one way to find out if he likes me, right~?"

I nodded and smiled back. "Right!" I picked up Shinohara's script and handed it back to her. "I expect to hear the results, too. But first, we have a show to perform!"


	8. Chapter 7

The festival was a flurry of action. There were not only students and faculty visiting today: the school had been opened to the families of the students as well. Noise echoed through the hallways of the school as people moved from room to room.

After wrapping up my shift with my class's festival attraction, I headed to the auditorium to do a few last minute checks on everything. I arrived to see that Ishida was already there, looking over a copy of the script.

"Ready to see your play on the stage, Ishida?"

Ishida looked up at me with a red face. "I-I'm a bit nervous. Do you th-think people will like it…?"

"I'm sure. Don't worry about it." I smiled, hoping that would be enough to reassure her. "How about we make sure everything's ready?"

"U-um…" Ishida stammered and pointed behind me.

I turned around to see a young man that I didn't recognize standing near the entrance of the auditorium, looking around. I walked over to him, wondering what caused him to wander in.

"Are you looking for something?" I asked, trying to sound polite.

The man nodded and smiled at me. "I am. Is the president of the Kisaragi Academy Senior High drama club around?"

"That would be me…" I examined the man more closely, but I didn't recognize him. He didn't look much older than I was, but the way he talked made him seem more mature.

"Ah, so you're Suzumoto!" The man extended his hand. "My name is Jun Arai. I graduated from Byakudan Senior High a few years ago, and a teacher I knew there said you're one to follow in the theatre scene."

I tried to remember which teacher I had during my short time at Byakudan that would have known that I was in the drama club and knew about my club activities. I hesitantly took Arai's hand.

"Is there something I can help you with, Mister Arai?"

"Just Arai is fine with me." After shaking my hand, Arai let go and smiled at me again. "I'm here to observe the production your club is putting on. I've been looking for a partner for an acting troupe that I've been wanting to put together ever since I started at the university."

I wasn't quite sure how to react to that, so I simply nodded. "Alright…"

Arai looked to my side and smiled. "And who is this?"

I turned to see that Ishida had joined us, though she looked hesitant.

"This is one of my clubmates, Kirie Ishida. She wrote the play that we'll be performing."

"Really?" Arai stroked his chin. "Interesting… This should be an exciting performance."

"W-we should get ready…" Ishida whispered to me.

"I'll not take anymore of your time. I'm looking forward to the production!" Arai nodded at each of us before turning to leave.

I wasn't sure what to make of Arai, but he certainly had an interest in the play. I smiled at Ishida and patted her shoulder. "Let's make sure everything's set to go. We don't want to disappoint our special guest."

—-

When the play was about to begin, I hurried to find my seat. After all of the practices and rehearsals, it was time to see how well everything I had worked on came together.

I somehow ended up sitting just in front of Mochida and Nakashima, and in the few minutes before the play was to begin they noticed me.

"Hey, Suzumoto!" Mochida leaned over the seat to talk to me. "Looking forward to seeing it all come together?"

I nodded at him, feeling a bit proud. "Yeah. Everyone's worked so hard so far, so I'm sure it'll all work out."

Nakashima leaned closer to me as well, holding up the play program. "I just read that Seiko is in one of the lead roles… is that right?"

"She is. She's been working really hard to get ready for it."

Nakashima nodded slowly. "So that's why she's been so busy lately. I hope she does well. You didn't let her slack off or anything, did you?"

I waved my hand in a calming gesture. "It's going to be fine. Shinohara is ready for this."

There wasn't time for any more banter after that. The lights dimmed, and the play begun.

—-

Everyone did an amazing job during the production, and despite some of my lingering concerns everything went perfectly. Or, if not perfectly, well enough that everyone still enjoyed the result. I occassionally worried that Shinohara might get stage fright at the last moment, but she carried on her part even when she made little mistakes that would usually demoralize a novice actor.

Of course, the real star of the show was Shig. Shinohara's mistakes were quickly hidden from the audience thanks to his improvisations, and he never flubbed a line or made a mistake. There were some others that did well, such as Kokowa and Harada, but Shig was above them all in acting ability.

After the final curtain, I hurried backstage to congratulate everyone. A number of my clubmates were in the midst of celebrating backstage, some to the point of hugging each other in joy and relief.

"How was it, Ishida?" I patted Ishida on the arm as she watched the celebrations from afar.

"I-it was perfect. I didn't expect it to g-go so well."

"See? I told you it'd do well."

I went around and started congradulating everyone else, eventually noticing that Shig and Shinohara weren't backstage.

I headed out into the auditorium to find them, and immediately spotted them. They were standing with Mochida, Nakashima, Shinozaki, and a few of our other friends and classmates. At something Nakashima said, Shinohara turned and kissed Shig on the cheek. He hesitantly put his arm around her and nodded to the others.

"So the making out won't stop even with the play over, huh?"

I spun around at the sudden voice and saw Harada staring in Shig and Shinohara's direction. I huffed and crossed my arms.

"That's not the way to talk about your seniors!"

Harada shrugged and turned away. "Just sayin'."

I sighed and was about to turn to go backstage when I saw the teacher Mister Yamazaki leading someone over to me.

"Suzumoto, I believe you met this man earlier…" Mister Yamazaki indicated Arai next to him, who was stroking his chin. "He'd like to speak to you and Ishida when you two have a chance."

I nodded and motioned for Arai to follow me. "Alright. Ishida should still be backstage."

Arai smiled. "Good. I really think you two have some talent. I'd like you two to contact me once you graduate so that we can discuss a potential future in theatre. But I'm getting ahead of myself; let's see what your playwright has to say."

He seemed a bit too ethusiastic over a single production, but I couldn't sense anything wrong with his passion. I nodded and led Arai backstage to talk to Ishida.

—-

Once Arai had left, I decided to go see some of the other attractions that the classes and clubs had set up for Tanabata. I eventually found myself walking toward a group that included Shig, Shinohara, and a lot of my friends.

Shinozaki turned to me and frowned. "Suzumoto, did you know about this?" She motioned with her head cryptically.

"Know about what?"

"Them." Shinozaki motioned her head again, and I noticed that she was indicating Shig and Shinohara, who were holding hands.

"Um, a little…" I shrugged.

"I never expected those two would ever go out with each other. It's almost as surprising as it would be for Kishinuma to confess to me!"

I really, really wanted to let Shinozaki in on the "secret" that apparently only she didn't know about Kishinuma, but I decided that now wasn't the time. Instead I shrugged again, probably looking really sheepish.

"Ah, Suzumoto!" Shinohara turned and saw me, and within seconds her arms were around me. "How did I do? Would I make it as an actress?"

After my surprise wore off, I measured my words carefully. "Well… maybe with a bit of practice and hard work you could make it…"

Shig nodded and adjusted his glasses. "You seem to have the potential, but you'll still need to work at it."

Shinohara let go of me and nodded at Shig, smiling. Nakashima patted Shinohara on the shoulder.

"I think you did a great job, Seiko. I'm glad this is working out for you."

We all talked for a bit about the performance. Somewhere in the discussion, Shinohara whispered to me that she had asked Shig if he liked her right after the play was over, and that he had agreed to keep going out with her.

While a part of me was sad that my special relationship with Shig was over, I couldn't help feeling happy for him and Shinohara. While he wasn't the type to smile openly, I could sense that Shig was just as happy as Shinohara was.

Our conversation was interrupted by a pair of junior high students running up to us. I recognized one of them as Mochida's little sister, and she tugged on her brother's sleeve once she reached us.

"Big brother, they set up some wish trees in the school courtyard! Let's go write our wishes!"

Mochida smiled at her and nodded. "Alright, Yuka." He looked at the rest of us. "Anyone else want to come with?"

Everyone agreed to come along, though we knew it was going to be crowded or there wouldn't be multiple wish trees set up.

I held onto my paper for a while, trying to think of the perfect wish. I looked around at everyone, wondering if I should make my wish for one of them.

I saw most, if not all, of my close friends around me. Harada and Mister Yamazaki were talking about something on a bench. Kokowa was chatting with her friends. Shinozaki was arguing with Kishinuma about something while he rubbed the back of his neck. Mochida, his sister, Nakashima, and the other junior high student were playing some sort of game together. I even saw Arai lurking around the courtyard, though he seemed awkward and out of place.

I couldn't find Shig or Shinohara until I turned to look at a corner of the courtyard that most people seemed to almost be avoiding. There was a lone bench in that corner under the shade of trees, and they were sitting close against one another.

"H-having a hard time thinking of a w-wish?"

I jumped a bit, having not seen Ishida walk up to me. "Oh! Um… yeah. Just need a minute or two to think."

Ishida nodded and smiled at me. "I'm s-sure it'll work out, whatever you w-wish for. You've already g-granted a lot of us our wishes."

That seemed like a bit of an exaggeration, but it sort of made sense when I thought about everything that had happened. "I guess so…"

I looked down at the blank slip of paper in my hands and nodded. I didn't need anything special for myself. I just want all of my friends to be happy.

I wrote down my wish and hung it on the tree. I hope that we continue to be as happy as we are now. That is my wish.


End file.
